Cross-Cultural Management Seminar at Universidad de Granada-SRH Hochschule Berlin

Next December 5th I will give a seminar on CROSS-CULTURAL MANAGEMENT for the Master in Economics and International Management students at the University of Granada-SRH Hochschule Berlin. The seminar is designed to develop global business leaders. As such, the seminar intends to develop global leadership competencies. We will cover the main management issues corporations face when doing business internationally. Topics include current international business environment, cultural dimensions of international management, communication and leadership in the global context, and cultural impacts and tips on doing business globally. This course is oriented around competency application as well as case and analytical methods of instruction and learning.

The objectives of this seminar are:

• To provide students with theoretical and practical tools in order to improve their effectiveness in International Management activities. 
• To make students more aware of the impact of national cultures on business. 
• To give them a sound knowledge of the most significant cultural dimensions. 
• To analyze the consequences of each cultural dimension on key management functions. 
• To make students aware of their own cultural preferences and to give them the opportunity to compare them with those of major economies. 
• To develop an attitude of respect and reconciliation towards cultural differences. 

Seminar topics:

• International business environment 
• Cultural dimension of international management 
• Intercultural communications 
• Leadership in the global context 
• Doing business globally 
• Business etiquette and protocol

Cultural Insights Series: Introduction

As part of my Cross-Cultural Management class in the Master of International Business (Madrid - Madrid/Paris) and International MBA (Madrid/New York) programs at EAE Business School, I assign students another culture to study. They are required to identify real cultural insights from that society and compare their home culture with that society's values, beliefs and attitudes, and summarize the differences.

Throughout the years, these groups turned out to be highly diverse in their composition. I have had students from Norway, Colombia, France, Uruguay, Denmark, The Netherlands, Dominican Republic, Curacao, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Philippines, Belgium, El Salvador, Andorra, Switzerland, Canada, Iran, Brazil, Germany, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Martinique Island, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and of course Spain.

With such multi culturally diverse groups the result of this assignment has been a highly interesting body of real cultural knowledge. The intention with this Cultural Insights Series that I am starting today, is to share those insights with all of you. Hopefully, with your own insights and collaboration this will turn out to be a rich source of cultural information. After all, managing in this globalized world requires sensitivity to cultural differences and to appropriate ways of doing business.

Successful international managers strive to understand cultural differences and that journey starts by achieving cultural sensitivity.